The Outside
by aspentree11
Summary: A girl from the outside questions why the fence is there? Whats inside? Why is it blocked off? One day the temptation wins her and finally hops over, but when she does she uncovers a new world of hatred, love, and power. Can she handle it? Or has she gotten herself into a rabbit hole
1. Chapter 1

My breathing stopped. The gun was pressed to my head tightly, burrowing into my scalp. I tried to breathe. One, two…The gun was pressed in harder. Three, four…I should've stayed outside the fence. Five, six…what was I thinking? Seven, eight...I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Nine, ten…I waited for the bullet. The one item to end my life forever. I always thought I'd die from heart disease or something, but nope. A bullet.

"Would you get it over with, please?" I croaked after a moment, still counting lightly in my head. But the cold eyes continued to stare.

"I don't think she's kidding guys," one of the people behind me said, "I think she's telling the truth." I was telling the truth. I was, I was.

"What, you want us to think that she voluntarily came into this place? We can't get out, forget coming in!"

"Fine. Prove it," the boy said, his lips curling, "Prove it."

(insert three dashes)

** BEFORE**

The sun was beaming onto me, causing the red strands of mine to reflect different colors; gold, auburn, blonde, brown. My feet crosslegged against the grass, and I let my hands weave across the green prickles as I watched in front of me. It was just a fence – nothing spectacular – but there was something about it.

"Still out here?" A voice called. I turned my head sharply, and smiled. Only a third of a mile away from me, a lanky boy with wavy brown hair bolted toward me.

"Don't make fun of me," I chortled, when he slapped down next to me, "I just like watching it, is all." He smirked, biting into an apple that he had hidden in his palms.

"You like watching a fence? You do know that it never changes right?" He asked. I made a face at him.

"Actually, the guards left," I countered, "Not sure why, but they left." He rolled his eyes.

"Alright, so they abandoned the extra toxic facility so that they don't all get chronic cancer, so what?" He said. "I mean, it's nothing fancy." I tilted my head at the fence, shaking my head.

"People are protecting it. Why? What's back there that they want to hide so bad? I was looking at a map today and realized that most of Illinois is cut off. Why is that, Cory? I think it's because of this. And I don't think it's some stupid toxic place either. They wouldn't take up that much space." That's what they always said. _Hush, quit talking about the fence Lily, it's just a fence that was created to separate the toxic factories. _But that wasn't true. We would be able to smell it, to see the smoke.

"You know, I'm not trying to be mean Lily," Cory said, sighing, "But maybe you should, you know…get a new hobby."  
"Get a new hobby?"

"Yeah, like a life or something," he said, taking a bite out of his apple, "I mean, it's not that bad to get a life." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, cause you got such a big life," I said sarcastically.

"Maybe my life isn't that productive, but at least I don't stare at a stupid fence," he said back. I jumped to my feet.

"Fine, I won't stare at it anymore," I said. He let out a breath of relief, smiling.

"Alright, let's-"

"Let's jump it." He froze, his apple halfway to his mouth.

"_What?_"

"You heard me, let's jump it," I repeated, "I mean, the guards are gone, and you said it was nothing, so why not jump it?" His lips pressed together firmly.

"You don't know what's behind there," he warned, "It can be something bad."

"What are you?" I said, my fingers touching the fence, "A wuss?" Redness rose on his face.

"No," he said, and I started to climb it.

"Then come on!" I felt myself hop over, and that was the moment my entire life changed. Just hopping over a fence like nothing mattered. If I knew that I'd just landed in a dystopia – a world worse than my own – I would have stopped myself. But I didn't.


	2. Chapter 2: The Inside

I waited for the idea to hit me. That I was finally on the other side of the fence. But instead I found myself staring at the same exact thing I was staring at only moments ago: trees, dying grass, an awkward smell. Quickly, a flood of disappointment went over me. What was I expecting anyways? Behind me, I heard a thump.

"Lily, this isn't funny," I heard Cory hiss, "We don't know what's out here. Come on." But I found myself inching into the woods, slowly following the blackness that started to cloud in. I wouldn't leave without an answer, I thought to myself, not until I figured out why we weren't allowed here.

"Lily, I'm leaving you if you don't stop!" Cory threatened.

"Fine," I said, "Leave. Go home." He grunted in frustration, following my trail anyways. I couldn't see anything but trees, but I couldn't help but keep going.

"I don't see any kind of toxic factory," I said aloud, "So what's really out here?"

"Nothing is out here," he snapped, as we continued through the trees, "Nothing-"

"Who the heck is that?" But it didn't come from me. Nor did it come from Cory. Sucking in our breaths, we spun toward the direction. Through the trees, something glinted. Something…silver.

"Is that a-"

"Gun!" Cory continued. "It's a gun!" Before I could say a word, Cory tackled me to the ground, just in time for a gunshot to hit my ears. My breathing paced as I turned to Cory. He grabbed my shoulders. Neither of us were hit. We would feel it. There would be blood around us. But there wasn't, I reassured myself. Whoever shot us missed.

"Come on!" He said, dragging me off the ground, "Before they-" But then people, people who I've never seen before, seemed to reveal themselves. From our right, to our left, in front of us. Even some sneaking behind us. We were circled. My eyes widened.

"They said nobody was back here," I said to myself, so low that nobody around me could here, "How did they get here?"

"What's going on?" Cory demanded, still holding onto me, "Who are you people?" Cory was a big guy – six foot four, a moderately wide size. Most people didn't mess with him, despite him being a realitively good person. But none of the people around us, from girls smaller to me to guys that made Cory look like a twelve year old, seemed intimidated at all.

"More like who are _you _people?" A boy from our left said. My eyes scanned him. I caught Cory glaring him down suspiciously, looking him up and down with every detail possible. He was a pretty good looking guy – dark eyes, olive skin, nice brown hair that curled down to his neck. But yet there was something different about his beauty, like you could tell he wasn't like us either. As if he was a different nationality or something.

"We…we came from outside of the fence," Cory croaked, "We didn't know people were on the other side."

(three dashes here)

"Wait, so let me get this straight: I save all of your butts, and yet you still put me on guard duty?" Within thirty minutes we were forced into some hut only half a mile off. We were silent as when they tied us up. A large guy loomed over me disapprovingly, like I wasn't good enough to be in his presence or something. My eyes narrowed. A thousand things wanted to come out of my mouth, but I stayed silent. I looked at Cory – his pale blue eyes were gleaming brightly, I knew what that meant. Cory was a strategist. Instead of doing sports, which he is magnificent at because of his built, he was in all of the math programs, spent most of his time doing puzzles, and was always searching for an answer. Before, I thought it was pretty stupid that he wouldn't even attempt to be on a team, especially since he would probably be one of the best in just about any of the sports, but right now I was happy that Cory was a geek. His geekyness might just get us out of here.

"Hey, you're welcome to leave whenever you want, Peter," the pretty boy from earlier sneered, "Nobody is stopping you." Peter, the guy looming over me, glared at him.

"Who even cares? They don't seem to have anything on them," Peter spat, "Let them go back to the other side of the fence."

"Yes," Cory agreed, "I completely agree with you, you should just let us-" But then Peter swerved around, slapping Cory across the face so hard that the sound echoed in my ears. Cory let out a gasp.

"What the heck was that for?" Cory's voice rose, tugging at the ties. "You touch me again I swear-"Peter rolled his eyes, turning back to the pretty boy.

"Hey!" I bursted. "Look, I don't know who you jungle people are, but we aren't from here. We have to leave."

Peter turned toward me, raising his hand as if to slap me as well, but just as his hand swung in the air, a calm voice told him, "Don't touch them." Peter turned his head toward the voice, his eyes glaring with a different glint.

"Humor me," he spat. I watched as another guy – lean, skinny, but yet intimidating, walked in. He didn't even acknowledge me, but instead returned Peter's glare.

"The only reason you haven't been voted off this place is because of me," he said in a slow, cool voice. Pursing his lips tightly, Peter lowered his hand. His eyes pierced into mine like daggers, but he stepped back. Slowly, more people filed into the small hut. Different skin tones, different heights, different everything. But yet something made them the same. My eyes flickered to Cory, but he didn't look back.

"My name is Four," the boy said, his arms crossed against his chest as he stood over me, "Is there any reason you're on our side?"

"Your side?" I answered, "You mean your side of the fence?" A glint shadowed in his eyes, and his arms slackened just a bit, but he maintained his tight posture.

"No, I mean _our _side. The dauntless refugees' side. I've never seen you in my life – and believe me," his eyes flickered toward Cory, "I would remember you two if I had." I was silent for a moment, trying to remember how to talk. Suddenly, he leaped closer to me, grabbing me by the shirt and dragging me, and my chair, off the ground. Fear flooded through me.

"Why would you remember us?" Cory sneered dramatically. But then Four's eyes landed on me completely. Like he already knew that Cory wasn't the one to speak to – instead, it was me.

"Let me ask again: who are you?" He snapped. "Are you one of Evelyn's?"

"Evelyn's? Who's Evelyn?" Cory's voice rose. A slim darker girl pointed a gun at me, not a glint of sympathy in her eyes. A dark red line slanted across her face. It looked like the scar was just starting to heal, I thought to myself.

"I think Evelyn's playing with us," She spat, staring at me coolly. "Now that we know something is outside the fence, she's sending people over here trying to act like they're from the outside world."

"No," pretty boy argued, "I don't know who they are but when they saw us they looked like they were two aliens stepping into a new world." The darker girl glared at him.

"No offense Uriah, but I don't think you should speak-"

"What? Why not?" Uriah, the pretty boy, snapped. "Because I saved your life during the raid?!" I could feel Cory's eyes on me. The darker girl lowered her gun, which seemed so awkward now that I realized how big her gun was compared to her small body.

"You didn't save my life!" She spat. "You did this to my face!" She pointed at her ugly scar. Uriah took a heavy breath, his face tight.

"I apologized for that!" He yelled back. "How many times do I have to say sorry, Christina?" Her lips trembled. I knew that look in her eyes – a mix between betrayal and pain.

"Okay, stop!" Four yelled. Even Peter turned his head to look at him.

"What's your story?" Four asked evenly, his eyes still on me.

"We live on the other side of the fence," Cory swore, "We always have. People always said never to come back here because of some toxic crap, but since the guards left we decided to adventure out and…what the heck is this place? A secret society?" But then somebody put their gun to his head and he shrunk back.

"We ask the questions," the gunman snarled. Four stepped back, his eyes falling on us as if he was looking at two objects rather than people.

"I just…" But before he could finish his sentence, Peter put his gun to my head. My heart flew to my throat.

"I say let's just kill them," he hissed, "There's no reason to keep them alive." A blonde girl from behind Four shook her head.

"We can't just keep killing people, Peter," she chided, "Its wrong!" Peter let out mirthless laughter, his gun still digging in my hair.

"Wrong?" He mimicked. "Everything is wrong! We are the ones who are forced to live in the woods! Nobody deserves our mercy! Especially two liars."

"They might not be lying," A small guy from the back peeped up.

"What?!" Christina snapped at the boy, "Of course she's lying! Come on guys, you saw that video. Nobody is alive, if they were alive they would have come over the fence ages ago."

"Yeah, I don't believe it either," somebody agreed.

"It's bull. They're probably spies," another said. Peter smiled.

"So I have permission, all and mighty leader?" Peter said toward Four, mocking him lightly. Four looked at him, but didn't say a word. Silence crowded in, and all I could think about was dying. Just breathe, I thought to myself, just breathe. I felt my eyes fall on Cory. How did this escalate so quickly? I just wanted to go over the fence. I didn't think this would happen. But since it did, I wanted to go out quickly.

"Would you get it over with, please?" I croaked after a moment, still counting lightly in my head. But the cold eyes continued to stare.

"I don't think she's kidding guys," Uriah's voice rose, "I think she's telling the truth." I was telling the truth. I was, I was.

"What, you want us to think that she voluntarily came into this place? We can't get out, forget coming in!"

"Fine. Prove it," Peter said, his lips curling, "Prove it." I opened my mouth, trying to think of something, but how can you prove something that they don't believe in? They don't think there's any life out there, so how can I prove it?

"My name is Cory Thalia. I live at 629 Gregory Way, go to Faraland High School, and am seventeen years old. My shirt," Cory said, nudging his chin toward his red shirt, "That's the science club shirt. See – Farland High School, Science Club 2013." Every eye turned toward his shirt in silence, making Peter's gone loosen on my head.

"Take the guns off them," Four demanded at first in a hollow voice, but then ordered harshly, "You heard me! Take the guns off them! And untie them too. Uriah, stay. Everybody else, leave." Muttering curse words under his breath, Peter removed the gun, and Christina pulled away. People drifted out, back to whatever they were doing before.

"Go," Four demanded toward Peter. Peter's face scrunched up like a rat's.

"What? Last time I checked I was the guard!"

"And the last time I checked you didn't want to be guard." Peter's mouth parted, and I noticed how his fingers balled together angrily, but before he could say something he could regret, he stomped out of the hut haughtily. Without a word, Uriah untied me and Cory, but even without the ties I felt like I could get up. Four was still staring at us suspiciously, as if trying to read us.

"Let me guess, you want me to escort them back?" Uriah grumbled. Four shook his head.

"We can't let them out," Four told him, "I don't know what's out there, and I don't want them bringing anything out there _in_. We have enough issues." My eyes widened.

"No! We have to go back!" I snapped. "This was only supposed to be a five minute trip." And now what was it? An hour? Maybe two? And how long would it take for them to notice we are gone? They would never find us. They would never guess what was happening. Uriah flashed me a smile that was so pretty I almost smiled back.

"Sorry," he said, though he wasn't sorry at all, "Come on then. I'll walk you around."

(three dashes here)

"For as long as I remember – for as long as the history I was taught began – I believed there were only five places that were known to exist: Abnegation, Erudite, Amity, Candor, and Dauntless." He began to tell us the story of how separated the so-called "factions" were, and the discrimination that seemed to go along with them. But he also told us how they worked together, and how each faction was needed for the perfect civilization. He taught us about customs, lifestyles, and the most important choice in your entire life: when you have to choose between your family and your heart. He explained how he was in Dauntless, and the people in Dauntless and what Dauntless was like during initiation. But then he went on to when chaos started.

"At first it was just Erudite. They were trying to take over the place. They first started with my faction, simulating us and making mass genocide," he said, his eyes falling to the ground, "It sparked a war. Chaos began, and slowly it seemed to come down to Dauntless and the factionless versus Erudite. It wasn't until the main battle that we discovered – well, Tris discovered – that the reason the war was sparked was to stop a video to be shown. Erudite lost, and when the Dauntless and the factionless came together again, something worse happened – the factionless, which now dominated, was taking over everything. And then the video was shown and that revealed that there were more people out there, and here we are again: Dauntless, fighting for our lives, against a force greater than us." Cory and I didn't speak until Uriah was done with his speech. I didn't know how to respond. Even Cory was speechless.

"And now we're in our worst state yet – in the woods. We're still fighting of course, but there are so little of us, only fifty or sixty of us rounded up, that we are nothing. Our top priority is survival," Uriah muttered, his dark brown eyes looking around at the trees in silence.

"It's like I Am Legend," Cory said. I elbowed him.

"They don't know what I Am Legend is," I reminded him. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure they know something about the outside world," he argued, but then turned toward Uriah, "Right?" Uriah pursed his lips.

"No," Uriah said, "We were taught that it was just us."

"You really thought nobody else in the world was alive? You really thought that you guys were the only ones?" Cory snorted.

"And you guys thought you were the only ones? You thought there weren't any secret civilizations?" Cory's smile drifted away. Ignorance is bliss.

"Look," Uriah said, "I don't really know why Four wanted me to take you on this walk, but I think it's because of this: Four doesn't want you guys going back." My eyes narrowed.

"You mean 'let' us?" I corrected. He gave me a small smile.

"However you would like to look at it," he said, winking at me, "But with that attitude you'll never be happy here." Cory huffed, stopping sharply. He grabbed my wrist, forcing me to stay beside him. Uriah glanced back, slowly stopping.

"We have families to get back to. Friends, loved ones, school," Cory spat, "What are we supposed to do here? Just pretend everything is okay and that you guys didn't just completely ruin our lives?" Uriah put his fingers in his pockets, standing up so straight that even though Uriah was shorter than Cory by an inch or two, he seemed monstrous. Cory tipped back.

"It's either that or we can tie you up and let Peter be in charge of your lives," Uriah said coolly, "It's your choice." Cory was quiet for a moment, probably searching for words in his head.

"Say we do stay here and go along with it," I said hesitantly, ignoring Cory's glare, "What will we do?" Uriah's face lightened up, bringing out that bright handsomeness that I first saw in him.

"I'll show you."


End file.
